Cracking the Ether

Abstract

This chapter explores the earliest artist-led pirate TV project, PKP-TV, as an example of how squatter tactics were applied to the media. The illegal channel, which was created by the artists Maarten Ploeg (né van der Ploeg), Peter Klashorst, and Rogier van der Ploeg, made it its mission to crack open the closed medium of television. PKP and pirate cable TV in the Netherlands are situated within a longer history of both alternative TV projects internationally—such as the Videofreex and TVTV—as well as video and film-based artworks shown on television both in the Netherlands and abroad. Artist-led pirate television in the Netherlands, like squatters in urban space, cracked open the media space of television and created temporary autonomous platforms.